Principal's Message

Principal's Message

Welcome back to school, folks. Term 3 is here! Second semester is a partial reboot as we sign off on reporting from Semester 1 and move into new subject topics and focus on what we can continue to learn and improve for the second half of the year.

I spent some of the time reading a book titled "The Coddling of the American Mind" by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. It key premise is the we should be preparing the child for the road, not the road for the child. It suggests, that in our efforts to provide a pain-free childhood existence, we are robbing the young person of the journey through difficulty onto resilience. They further contend that the modern rise in mental illness has a direct link to how we place bubble wrap about our children for fear them getting hurt. I am yet to finish the book, but it certainly throws up some interesting contentions. I have seen, in my career, the degradation of resilience in children and I do wonder whether we have been somewhat responsible. Throwing a child to the wolves is not the ideal - but allowing bruises to occur without direct intervention might have something in it for us all to consider. 

Back to the school level, we have our School Review in Term 3 and it represents a culmination of four years of work. We will reflect on our performance during the Review and project four years ahead by setting new targets and goals for the whole school. The Review ensures we don't stray too far off course with our big picture thinking and allows the school to celebrate all we have achieved in the four previous years.

I was principal at Lara Lake Primary School for seven years before taking on the job at SMPS. Lara Lake rose to become one of the top three rated schools in the Geelong Region and I was extremely proud of the journey we undertook there. It was tough work at times and relied on a relentless focus on performance. Excellence in schools is elusive, but a key ingredient is a strong focus on student outcomes. At SMPS we receive quite a bit of attention for our outstanding outcomes and systems. We have visitors from across Victoria, interstate and overseas coming to see our model and that is quite reaffirming for us as a team. 

I am surrounded by committed staff, a fabulously supportive community and (truly) the best kids I could ever wish for. Still, the work is hard and the focus relentless. In 1817, a quote appeared in reference to successful democracies. With some variation, the sentiment read, "Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty."  Although democracies and education fundamentally differ in nature, the concept of "eternal vigilance" sings to me as it would define the work I have done in the two primary schools I have led over the last decade. 

In democracies (as in education) the work is imperfect and there are always areas to improve. Similarly, not everyone is a fan of the work we do all the time. It certainly is not a popularity contest. I see it as a moral imperative to try to do the right thing as often as possible; regardless of the prevailing winds.

As we move into the next strategic era at SMPS, I remain committed to eternal vigilance. At SMPS, we know what we stand for and what we want to achieve. Excellence every day for every child remains our key driver. This goal is not always realised - but we are driven by its ideal. I look forward to continuing the partnership with every staff member, every parent/guardian and every student to achieve our best in Term 3 and beyond.

Staffing

Staffing will remain on the education agenda for some time as we navigate our way through shortages and intense talent competition in a shrinking field. We are very lucky to have the talent on our list to forward our goals. 

Some of the highlights at SMPS to note are as follows:

• Tess Duerden (our Business Manager) is off to Williamstown High School on promotion. We wished her the best at the end of last term and our search begins for her replacement. This process will take a few weeks and there will be a learning curve for the new person. We request patience at the user end in regard to finance as we patch up for a few weeks before welcoming the new Business Manager into the fold
• We had an unsuccessful search for a Mandarin teacher at the end of Semester 1. We will continue with DigiTech as our specialist subject and it will be taken by Miss Hope for the remainder of the year while our search for a language teacher goes on. We are so lucky to have Miss Hope (as the kids love her and the subject) and we are grateful that parents are patient and understanding regarding the challenges of finding a suitable language teacher replacement
• Miss Carmen (our Assistant Principal) will not return in 2023 as she undertakes an Acting Principal role at Wallington Primary School (near Geelong). Carmen resides in Geelong and it is logical that she takes on these promotion roles in the interim.
• Our leadership profile (Mr. Noel - Principal, Miss Maddy - Curriculum, Miss Jo - Wellbeing/Inclusion, and Mr. Callum - Whole School Organisation) will be boosted by the return of Miss Jenny who will be with us from week 3 of this term in her Learning Specialist role. Miss Jenny will do some coaching of staff around teacher pedagogy along with other tasks. We are very excited to have Miss Jenny back who is expert in her field. She will work Monday to Wednesday each week.

Key Dates Semester 2

Please have a look at the last page for key dates and events to stay focussed on. Link to the Key Dates page to check it out.